This is CBS, I Am The World, I'm John Bachelor.

Brazil, the very powerful state of Brazil in the Americas, now led by Lula de Silva for

the third time, the recently elected president, a man of the center left, who has been jailed

for corrupt practices, and is now in charge of the economy and the geopolitics.

I welcome Marianne Estatio, Grady of the Americas, editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal

Editorial Board.

Mr. de Silva has just returned from Beijing, where he visited with Xi Jinping toward the

troops and the authorities, and then spoke of trade deals and a stronger relationship

between the People's Republic of China, allied with Russia, and Brazil at the same time invited

Mr. Xi Jinping to Brazil.

The puzzle here is that at the same time Lula de Silva praises or at least mitigates his

praise for other large players in the world, other large states in the world, where there's

reason to believe there's trouble.

And at the same time then adds a condemnation of Russia, invasion of Ukraine.

It's a tangle, and the most recent version of this is Mr. de Silva's opinion of Nicaragua.

Mary, a very good evening to you.

I put my pencil down after I ran this checklist through.

I can't see a pattern that makes sense here.

Lula de Silva, you emphasize this both ideological and practical.

What is practical about mitigating the Nicaragua nightmare, chastising at some point Russia,

and then playing paddy cake with Beijing?

How does all this work, Mary?

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